Well, back in 2003 I wrote this post:
Anden in 2008, this one:
You really need to read those ones first before I tell you the latest. I’ll wait.
Continue readingLest you think that just because the smoke was gone the excitement ended. And silly me. Why would I think it would? Just because my heart rate had slowed down did that mean our worries were over for the time being? Apparently not. Because on September 18th, six days after we’d gotten home, we had a major windstorm, complete with hour-long rolls of thunder, during which, this happened:
We had listened to music all the way home, and were relieved, oh, so relieved, to be home and to see it still standing. I cried driving up our little gravel road. I was so glad we’d left the hummingbird feeders completely full, but I worried about all the tiny birds breathing in all the smoke. The Rufous Hummingbirds had left, and the Annas took their places.
Getting on the road felt good. I put the a/c onto recirculate so that we didn’t have to keep breathing the smoke from outside. The kitties were quiet in their carriers and Hulunani was happy. I was surprised but grateful that there wasn’t more traffic. This is what the freeway looked like as we started out.
Late Friday afternoon I checked out pizza places where we could get takeout so that we wouldn’t have to eat inside. I found this one, Lexi’s Pizza, in Kelso. It got great Yelp reviews, so off we went, again leaving the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door to our room.
Although it’s in Kelso, we had to cross the Columbia River to get there, and despite the smoke, it was really a pretty drive. The place was really busy, but our pizza was ready and service was friendly and easy. It’d be a great place to eat inside, too. We got ours with red sauce instead of ranch sauce. So nani da crust!
California Veggie
Ranch sauce, spinach, mushroom, onion, bell pepper, artichoke, tomato, sun-dried tomato, and shaved parmesan
We woke early the next morning and let the kitties out, got them fed (we’d kept them in the bathroom overnight), and though they didn’t eat much, we knew they were okay. This was our view when we woke up; the smoke was bad even an hour away from the fire we’d just left. I-5 is just over the berm.
I don’t even know how to begin this post. It’s been a whirlwind that started with the Riverside wildfire southeast of Estacada. On Wednesday, September 9th our area was in the Level 1, “Get ready” zone. So even though there was no immediate danger, we began gathering photos, important papers, and irreplaceable memories. Nolemana was still trying to work, too; that didn’t stop non-local clients from needing their appraisal work done. I was tense, and yeah, kinda fearful. The fire was moving fast. A number of my good friends were at Level 2, “Get set!”. Smoke from the fire began to make its appearance.
Yesterday our holoholo was at Red Sunset Park in Gresham. We haven’t been there in years and years, and decided it was high time we went back. We’d only been there for picnics at the covered area, but had never walked all the way around the park. The weather wasn’t too hot, so off we went.
Last Sunday we decided on a new place to holoholo (walkies). We’d already picked up a book curbside at Sandy Library, to I suggested we go to Meinig Park, a beautiful, wooded, park nearby. We used to go there every year for the Sandy Mountain Festival, and had a good time, but we haven’t gone for several years now. And obviously we didn’t go this year. I thought this’d be a good holoholo for us because the trails are up and down and good exercise. This is the entrance from the parking lot.
We were going to go for a walk up at Powell Butte yesterday, but it’s closed unless we wanted to walk all the way up and back. Nope. So instead we decided to go to Main Street Park in downtown Gresham since it was on the way home. And boy, were we glad we did!
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